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Opinion Contributor

Two years of 'Obamacare' not helping patients

The authors contend that the health reform law will increase costs and restrict coverage. | AP Photo

We found that nearly all of these tax increases are likely to be passed directly to consumers, effectively breaking the president’s pledge.

These include tax hikes on high-value health plans held by many police officers and firefighters. Americans with large medical bills will also face a direct tax hike, since the threshold for deducting medical expenses will jump from 7.5 percent to 10 percent.

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All told, the Congressional Budget Office reported, the new taxes added up to $800 billion over the next 10 years.

We warned during the health care debate that the president was engaged in one of the most dramatic attacks on individual liberty in a generation. Our report uncovered substantial evidence that we were right.

A new analysis by the Congressional Research Service concluded that, under the law, about two-thirds of all health care in this country will be funded by the government by 2014.

Beyond the cost, the health care law included the unconstitutional mandate that all Americans buy health insurance whether they want it or not. It also gave sweeping new powers to the secretary of Health and Human Services to regulate nearly every element of our health care. HHS is now turning out those rules — hundreds of pages at a time.

Our report explores these and other side effects of Obama’s health care law. After two years, the facts about the law speak for themselves.

As Republican senators, we support real health care reform that puts patients first and preserves individual choice.

As physicians, we know firsthand that we cannot go back to the system we had before. We believe that we can — and we must — fix what was not working in our health care system.

However, an honest solution cannot be built on a failing law.

Real reform starts with repealing the health law and then replacing it with solutions that really lower costs, increase coverage, empower patients and reduce government interference.

Only then can Congress help Americans receive the care they need, from the doctor of their choice, at a price they can afford.

No Kidding! Where IS the liberal media on this? Really, suddenly no preventative tests are needed. Insurance premiums have doubled. Life-saving medications are no longer available. Doctors have all but disappeared.

The bill didn't address the underlying problem because it wasn't health care reform. It was insurance reform. If we didn't know initially, we are beginning to learn that the formulation of that reform has created and will continue to create more problems than it will resolve.

Then, there is the manner in which this legislation was passed which won't be forgotten by those of us who tuned in for some time to come.

..but, yea, the law doesn't even go into full effect until 2014. There are no exchanges yet, there are no subsidies for those exchanges yet, there are no bans in not covering pre-existing conditions yet, or the mandate, or the removal of caps on how much care you can be provided.

Guess thats what happens when you " pass this bill now and we can see whats in it latter " as per Nancy Pelosi . Looks like now instead of having to figure out if you should pay your health care insurance premiums in 2014 or pay your rent or buy food for your family. You can decide if you should buy gas for your vehicle or pay your health care insurance premiums in 2014 or pay your rent or buy food for your family eh ? Hope and Change anyone ?

Of course, please note that no alternatives were offered. Solutions? What solutions? We know: privatize Medicare and Medicaid. That way, the GOP contributors aka the health insurers will do fine, while we all will be paying for CEO salaries, and all sorts of duplicative costs. It also means that your 25 year old, who has no job, can no longer be on your insurance, and if you have a pre-existing condition, no insurance for you.

The Supreme Court and the American people will throw this piece of crap law to the side of the road. Either the Courts end this unconstitutional law, or the American people will rid themselves of the current administration. Actually - it will probably be both!

The American people are sick of this divisive, chaotic and failed administration that seems intent on bankrupting and tearing apart the very fabric of what makes America great. We've had enough.

Independent Moderate - "Then, there is the manner in which this legislation was passed which won't be forgotten by those of us who tuned in for some time to come."

Oh you've forgotten... you've forgotten that is was passed in a perfectly legal manner with months of debate and negotiation and compromise to win a supermajority 100% of Democratic votes and two independents. What you refuse to accept is that you lost, plain and simple.

It hasn't caused any damage except in the minds of Conservatives. In reality, millions of young people under 26 now have insurance. Children under 18 can no longer be denied due to a pre-exist. There are no lifetime benefit caps that force patients to switch JOBS just to stay covered. We now have the PCIP which ensures that those with pre-exists can afford health insurance until the exchanges are stood up in 2014. It has forced insurers to limit overhead, and will result in REBATE CHECKS to insured persons instead of higher inflated salaries for insurance company execs. It has closed the Medicare Part D donut hole for seniors.

The law is already helping people. These people that try to pass for Senators have no integrity, and will tell any lie they think will help their side.

It's a good thing this article is billed as Opinion because there isn't a real Fact in it. Their numbers are as phony as their concern for patients.

The Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Insurance Industry, and they won't be satisfied until the companies can once again amass premiums and refuse to pay claims, as they did before Obamacare was passed. One third of insurance company staff were assigned to deny payouts - they were given bonuses for saying "no" and were fired for saying "yes." Ah, the good old days!

It should be noted that identical arguments were made by Republican shills before the passage of Social Security, Medicare and every other Democratic program that benefits people, not corporations.

Don't the Republicans ever get tired of being wrong, wrong, wrong? Because on this subject, they're sure flacking for the bad guys.

Oh, please. This is a ridiculous article on so many levels. it's just a partisan hack job.

First of all, the law doesn't go into full effect until 2014. Obviously the systemic impacts of the law have yet to be seen, and won't be seen clearly until at least a few years after it goes into effect.

As for "expense": our existing health care "system" (if you could call it that) was already, by far, the most expensive in the world, by a factor of about 2x, on average. Yet our health care outcomes were, on average, middling at best. Sure, we have some advantages in a few areas (cancer, for instance), but in terms of many variables, including wait times, we rank in the middle or even at the bottom. Wait times in Germany and France are far shorter, for instance, than they are here, for routine appointments.

The law only works is most Americans are covered (thereby expanding the risk pool) and then you eliminate medical underwriting (thereby allowing preexisting conditions to be covered). Those two elements have to be in place, and they're not, yet. So obviously the law isn't in effect yet.

I mean, come on. Let's get serious here and have some honest debate, not content-free hack jobs posing as analysis.

It's a good thing this article is billed as Opinion because there isn't a real Fact in it. Their numbers are as phony as their concern for patients.

The Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Insurance Industry, and they won't be satisfied until the companies can once again amass premiums and refuse to pay claims, as they did before Obamacare was passed. One third of insurance company staff were assigned to deny payouts - they were given bonuses for saying "no" and were fired for saying "yes." Ah, the good old days!

It should be noted that identical arguments were made by Republican shills before the passage of Social Security, Medicare and every other Democratic program that benefits people, not corporations.

Don't the Republicans ever get tired of being wrong, wrong, wrong? Because on this subject, they're sure flacking for the bad guys.

@ Panskeptic You stated: " The Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Insurance Industry " Errrrr I hate to tell you this but. What Team Obozo has done in effect is the following. By making people buy health insurance or pay a fine starting in 2014 ( if the SCOTUS don't throw that part out ). Obozo is giving the same insurance companies he claims he hates and have been ripping people off for years. Tens of millions of new forced customers which will make the insurance companies more money then they have ever dreamed about ! SO the Democrats NOT the Republicans or Indy's or whatever are the ones who are going to make the insurance companies 100's of millions if not billions of $$$ ! The insurance companies are going to make out like a fat rat in a cheese factory. And the Democrats are the ones doing it all at the taxpayers expense to boot. I bet GE or Ford or any other US company would just love a deal like that too eh ?